Game developers aren't generally known for their physical fitness and health. Often, our lifestyles & consuming work schedules don't encourage us to look or feel our best. And yet - our health is critically important: 1) How we live now determines the quality of our health in later years. 2) Exercise is a loss of time, yes, but pays for itself in terms of increased energy and mental clarity. 3) Looking good increases our confidence AND boosts our charisma, helping in negotiations and dealing with stress Two birds with one stone: It's possible to do two things at once! Consider mixing your favorite activity WHILE getting exercise. Reading, watching TV, or even playing videogames while on an exercise bike for example! Exercise "throughout the day": Don't have a solid block of time? Get some dumbells and a list of exercises that target every part of your body. Do them bit by bit, throughout the day, every time you need a break! WITH THIS IN MIND, I hope some of you will join me on a quest to better ourselves both visually and in terms of health, by committing to some kind of goal, with a deadline, and then following up now and then to show how you're doing. Maybe setting a goal publicly will give you something to live up to. * Trivia: Did you know someone who gets regular cardio exercise has as much as an additional pint of blood in their bodies compared with someone who doesn't? That could be a good 10-12% more vitality carrying energy and oxygen throughout our bodies!
I'll start this off with my goal: CURRENT WEIGHT/BMI: 185 / 27.3 TARGET WEIGHT/BMI: 150 / 22.1 DEADLINE: September 16, 2009 GOAL: In order to be a better game developer by maximizing my energy and mental clarity - and for additional benefits in negotiations - I commit to losing 30 pounds. I will do this by cutting back all unnecessary eating and getting 1 hour of cardio exercise per day until I reach 150! (After 150 I will switch to 20 mins cardio and 30 minutes of weightlifting to focus more on muscle once the fat is gone.) Anyone care to join me? I hope others will be encouraged by this and we can all improve ourselves for the ultimate goal of being better game developers! I will check back weekly with a progress report. PS. I will post before and after photos on Sept 16! Yikes!
FYI, using weight as a target is a bad idea, especially for a man. Best indication is body fat percentage, which can be measured by modern electronic scales (about $50 these days). I know for a fact I could drop 10lbs in a few weeks if I wanted to, but most likely 40% of that loss would be muscle. The net result is I'd probably look worse overall than I do now. Dropping 10lbs of fat whilst keeping muscle intact is much harder, but the end result will be much better. Trick is to keep protein high (at least 200g per day), lift weights 3-5 times a week and do some short cardio sessions on your non lifting days. A brisk walk in the morning before breakfast can also make a big difference. P.S If you can read a book/watch tv/play a video game/code whilst exercising then you definitely aren't working hard enough!
Thanks for the reminder. I have to get back in the gym, or at least get back into a regular routine again at home. I've lifted weights since I was in my late teens, but have gotten way off track in the past 2 years. It was due to a shoulder injury I sustained when I was 46, which then conveniently turned into a permanent "vacation" from doing anything but the most casual of lifting and cardio. Anyway, at 46 years old I was still benching 315 lbs, and basically looked a lot younger than I was. Now 225 might be a bit heavy... By the way, getting an hour of cardio per day is great (and a lot!) but lifting will also help you lose weight faster, since, as you may know, muscle helps burn fat even when you're just sitting around doing nothing. Personally I do 30 min of cardio, and about an hour of weight lifting, when I'm training normally.
Oh, and for some motivation, read up on Jack Lalanne who, at 94 years old, still works out every morning in the weight room for 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes of swimming... a true legend in so many ways.
There is much debate about how much protein is actually needed. And of course, it depends on your size. 200g would be way too much for someone that is 5'5", for example. But anyway, not saying you're wrong, but I got great gains on much less protein. (About 1/3 of what you're saying.) Having naturally high levels of testosterone is far more important. (Oh, and no, before the question comes up, I've never done steroids to raise my natural levels. Just genetically lucky in that respect.)
To be a hardcore athlete I'm sure you are correct. But for "normal people" this sort of mentality may be discouraging. The "no pain no gain" mentality leads many to an "all or nothing" approach to exercise. You see this with so many people picking up a big exercise plan only to drop it within weeks (or even days) because it's just too much for them. Not everyone needs to be a competitive athlete, yet we all need basic health. So "no pain no gain" may be an ineffective strategy for many people in terms of finding a long term fitness plan they can stick with. It's possible to have plenty of gain with minimal pain and I hope to prove that.
I achieved a few lb in newb gains with minimal protein (70g per day ish) but after that I didn't add on anything for a good 6 months. It wasn't until I raised my protein to 200g that I started seeing results again. I'm 5'7". Maybe, but I feel people will be more discouraged when they work for weeks and don't see any results at all. At least with a tougher approach they are more likely to see changes that will continue to motivate them.
I could cut about 450-600 calories a day if I stopped drinking Coke. Sweet, sweet, life-giving cola.... <sigh> Making myself thirsty.
I think you have a good point here, particularly for people who have the luxury of time... Some people can consistently get a proper amount of sleep which hardcore working out requires. But others are in seemingly impossible situations timewise to allow for exercise. I bet there are a lot of people like that here - people with families and day jobs in addition to indie projects. Worse, some of us have game industry jobs that also add nightmarish crunch hours to all of this. I just wouldn't want such people to feel discouraged. It IS possible to get results without being that hardcore guy at the gym that makes all those loud grunts when he lifts. =) I don't know what you consider "results", but I am going to drop 35 pounds in 3 months AND increase my strength and overall health in the process - withOUT sacrificing my art at work or my indie projects at home. My goal is to prove that is possible and then explain how I did it, for others who don't have the luxury of time or energy for the "no pain no gain lifestyle." PS. I don't mean to conflict with you, really what I am doing is setting myself up with a lot of personal motivation and leverage to really accomplish this goal. =) The more I talk and brag that this can be done, the more I have to live up to by September 16th! =) And WHEN this works, the resulting before/after photos will be fun because my "before" photos were shocking! :-/
Also, if you wanna lose weight, then lifting weights & gaining muscle mass might actually (at leats in the beginning) gain you some weight. How about some running...? Also, by simply dropping fatty food (but ensuring that you get enough of the "good fat" like from peanuts or something) & sugar (candies, drinks) you can help weight dropping dramatically. Very good thread, and fine initiative. Keep us informed.
Cool thread! One of my other "hobbies" is mixed martial arts (in layman's terms, it's "cage fighting" or "UFC fighting"), and I train at a local MMA gym 3-5 times per week. I'm not at all a violent person, but I get really bored with repetition training and prefer to "learn" something while I work out. MMA has worked out well for me in that regard because it's almost like another video game addiction, just without all that sitting on the couch and getting fat If you guys are looking for more stuff to do, you might want to check out Ross Enamait's stuff. He has lots of free videos showing different exercises, including bodyweight exercises (requiring no equipment) as well as exercises with homemade equipment. All of it is combat sports-oriented, so it tends to be more anaerobic in nature; intervals, high-impact training, tabata sets, etc. are the name of the game. At the very least, it could be a fun diversion for you guys looking for more variety in your training: www.rosstraining.com www.rossboxing.com He also sells books online; I have two of them and they are great. Regarding diet, I generally find that balancing out my carbs and reducing my portions to more sensible levels yields good results at a basic level. This is especially important in America, where portions/carb ratios/sugar levels (or, more accurately, CORN SYRUP) are generally out of control. When I'm serious, I try to follow the 7g/9g/3g ratio of protein/carbs/good fats and try to stick to certain calorie levels. Good luck, Junkyard Sam! I'm sure you'll hit your goal as long as you don't give up. I'm in a similar situation where I need to drop some pounds after a bad 6 month period of partying
Too late for me - I've already eradicated nearly 50 pounds since February. Only 15 more to go (roughly), and I intend to be there long before September. There's even pictures here, taken a month or so ago.
I take spinning classes and I can tell for a fact that if I could read/work/play at the same time, I definately wouldn't be getting results. However the class setting and loud music makes for a more entertaining/motivating situation. I'd rather work out intensely for 2 hours a week than weakly for 5 hours!
I used to play rugby for most of my life, now I'm not playing, but I'm training 4-5 days a weeks, and playing 5-a-side football with my company team once. Doing sport is not hard, once you started... the hardest part is starting, but after 1-2 weeks, you'll enjoy it!
I used to play football quite a bit (or soccer for you heathens ) until I knackered my ankle a couple of years ago I find it difficult to find teams to play with to be honest, especially as working as a full time indie developer you don't get the social benefits that you working for a big company. I do try and get to the gym at least twice a week and I want to start running again. I find it difficult to find the time though, that's my biggest problem. Often I don't finish until between 7pm - 9pm so really just want to eat and chill by that point OT - @m3xican your linkedin profile really doesn't work the way you think it does! You need to use the public profile url like http://www.linkedin.com/pub/iain-key/1/8aa/4bb because that link you have just goes to the profile of whoever is viewing it not yours Your public profile is found if you got to "View My Profile" it's about half way down in the first box. Hope that helps, Iain
I am addicted to the gym - good addicition to have I suppose. Let's surprise everyone by being a community of all jacked developers. Hahaha.